Starvation
by Thinkwire
Summary: Remember Hypno? The curiously sinister Psychic Pokemon that once kidnapped a child? This is more or less an alternate take on that story, and the Pokemon itself.


_I obviously don't own Pokemon or any of the characters or locations in this story. They belong to Nintendo & Gamefreak._

Feared…feared and hated. That's what I am. Allow me to introduce myself. I am a Pokémon known as "Hypno", and I am most well-known for the hypnotic psychic powers I possess. While there are many possibilities for me, my only aspiration is survival.

Hungry. That's what I was. Hungry and lonely. We Hypno are not like most Pokémon who absorb nutrients by ingesting them through our mouths – we must solely rely on eating the dreams of others to survive. It is not easy to however, as most Pokemon dreams are not sufficient meals, and after only mere hours I will be hungry again.

Humans however, provide enough energy in their dreams to last for days at a time, which is the only way I have managed to survive so far. We Hypno are rare in the wild for this reason, as very few of us can stay alive for long after evolving. I sometimes wish I was a Drowzee again – a weaker Pokemon who could get enough energy to last several hours by ingesting the dream of a mere Ekans!

I myself have stayed alive by managing to hypnotize and eat the dreams of a few travelers along the road by where I live. Very few people travel along said road simply because of my presence, as there was a well-publicized story about one of my kind.

The story goes that one of my kind found a lost human girl, hypnotized her and proceeded to kidnap and rape her. The former part of that is true, but the rumors about him performing sexual acts on her are completely false. How do I know this, you ask? Because the Hypno in question was I.

My reasoning for kidnapping the human was simply for survival. Many times I had tried to enter a nearby seaside town, and was immediately chased away by the human populace, and even some of their Pokémon. They do not seem to take kindly to Pokémon there, unless belonging to a trainer. I had been starving that day, and was on the brink of collapsing when the human girl came by. Ethically, I knew it was wrong, but I had no choice. I needed to survive, and there was no telling how long it would be until another human came along. I put her to sleep and took her away.

I ate comfortably for a few days with this girl as my companion. Trying to avoid frightening her, I kept her in a constant trance that only subsided when she slept. In the back of my mind though, I knew that I would need to return her at some point. She had a family, as I once did, and I didn't need my Psychic powers to know they must be worried for her safety.

After roughly a week, I made my decision to take her back. I had eaten my fill of her fun and happy dreams, and began to lead her back. It was most unfortunate that I was seen before reaching the area where I had found her.

A trainer who had heard the news saw me leading her back, hand-in-hand. He flew into a rage and began to yell words like "pedo" and "monster". He called out his Dodrio, who I may have been able to defeat if not trying to protect the human from it's vicious attacks at the same time.

Ultimately, I ended up badly injured with some very painful wounds where Dodrio's drill-like beak had struck. I limped back to my nest, and had to recuperate for a few days. Thankfully, despite the human girl being taken from me, her dreams had provided me with enough energy to survive while I healed.

I did begin to hunger again after a few days however, and decided to take one more chance of perhaps finding a careless human in town. I had barely entered when someone spotted me, and shouted to alert the rest. I had no choice but to flee, and thankfully was able to escape.

I had quite a dilemma on my hands now, everyone in town was afraid of me, and no one would travel this route for fear of meeting me. And that's when the starvation began.

For weeks, I had to live off the dreams of Rattata, Spearow, and Ekans, which were never truly enough to satisfy me. There were some days in which I never had anything to eat at all, and just had to sit quietly, waiting for something, anything, to come along.

After what I believe was a month of this, I began to lose hope. My energy had begun to ebb, and I could hardly move a muscle. This was the end for me, and I knew that no one would care. The town nearby would probably hold a celebration if anything. Just when I thought my life was coming to an end, I saw someone! A black haired human male in a backwards hat and shorts – the first human along here in weeks! Using the last bit of strength I had, I began to try to hypnotize him, but he had noticed me already, and sent out a Magneton. Knowing I could hardly tell the inorganic Pokemon my sorrows, I tried to use a Confusion attack, but could not muster the energy. What happened next was all a blur. I remember hearing the human say "Thunder Wave!", feeling something hit my chest, and a feminine voice saying "Your Pokemon are fully healed."

Once that was said, I felt... Perfect. Healthy. Energetic. I realized then what had happened. This human was a traveling trainer, and had captured me! Knowing that captured Pokemon are treated very well by the majority of trainers, I began to wonder if there was hope for my life after all.

I barely had time to ponder this however, as I was released from my Pokéball mere seconds afterwards, and asked if I wanted to join his other Pokemon on a quest to become the League Champion. I didn't really have another choice, and anything that took me from this damnable town – where the inhabitants hated me – was welcome, so I nodded in approval. We soon set off, leaving my old home and heading south.

After traveling for a few hours night had fallen, and my new trainer had set up a tent. He yawned, bid all six of us goodnight, and went to bed. Suffering from insomnia, (ironic, I know.) I decided to look for some sustenance. Using a light telekinetic force, I opened the latch on my Pokéball and was about to search these woods for sleeping lifeforms when I heard a noise from my trainer's tent. It sounded like he was being attack by something, and out of what I suppose was newfound loyalty, I charged into the tent to defeat the attacker.

Upon entering the tent, I was quite surprised to see my trainer snoring away, with seemingly no threat in sight. Confused, I was about to leave when he began to moan again, mumbling phrases like "get away", and "don't kill me". It was plain he was having a nightmare, and while a Drowzee will get sick from eating bad dreams, we Hypno can eat any kind. Deciding to do him a favor, I got myself a free meal, and liberated him from a horrible nightmare, one about an odd Pokémon I had never seen before.

Going back into my Pokéball before he woke, he was none the wiser as we continued our journey. Strangely, he seemed to get nightmares frequently, and, happy to help (and to get my fill), I continued to eat them.

This went on for several weeks, until one late night. While consuming a nightmare about killer pianos, he awoke with a start, just as I was finishing. He gave me a quizzical look, obviously figuring out what I was doing. I sighed, expecting be thrown off the team for not staying in my ball, and to be once more left alone to starve. To my surprise, my trainer then laughed and said he had wondered why his nightmares always seemed to disappear. He then told me I could do this any time I wanted, provided it wasn't a good dream he was having.

It's been about a year since then, and so far everything has gone well. I've won several battles, learned moves I didn't know I could, and best of all, I am no longer hungry. Life is good.


End file.
